Resources for Parents and Families with Mental Health Challenges

Looking for resources for families, including activities for kids at home, educational curriculum, and resources on talking to kids? View our full resource database.

In addition to the sections below on specific child issues, we have videos for parents:

• Please see our short video series for tips on reducing parenting stress, helping kids feel calm, youth anxiety, sleep issues, routines, risky behaviors, and pregnancy well-being.
• There is also a webinar featuring experts on school transitions.

This expertise is provided by Jennifer Ly, PhD, and Lauren Haack, PhD.

Children with inattention and disruptive behavior often struggle in the areas of home routines, academic work, and relationships with family and peers. There are many resources available for supporting children with ADHD in these areas which may be helpful for families. Some overarching strategies include:

1. Setting clear, manageable expectations for what you expect of your child each day regarding school work and home routines (e.g., chores and self-care)
2. Providing frequent and specific praise for behaviors you’d like to see more of (e.g., independence/on-task behavior, kind words with others, maintaining a safe body)
3. Establishing rewards or privileges for routines and challenging tasks
4. Providing multiple opportunities for breaks and physical activity.

Children with ADHD often respond well to specific strategies and approaches that cater to their unique needs. Children with ADHD respond well when:

1. Academic tasks are broken down into manageable steps
2. They are provided with breaks between activities
3. Material is connected creatively to something they are interested in (e.g., math problems about outer space)
4. They are provided with scaffolding from parents as needed.

Some children may need more support with getting started or staying on task than others. You might try using a timer for both easy and the harder tasks. When possible, provide hands-on opportunities for learning. Reach out to your child’s teacher or school if you are struggling to manage homeschooling your child. In a challenging time, it’s important to be mindful that parents and children are adjusting to new routines. It may be helpful to adjust your expectations for what can be accomplished as we all adjust during this transition time.

• Tips for homeschooling children with ADHD
• Managing homeschooling (One-hour webinar by Ann Dolin, MEd)
• Grief Interventions for Children With ADHD is a resource that describes the different ways in which children with ADHD can experience loss, and how parents, teachers, and counselors can tailor interventions to the child's specific needs.

This expertise is provided by Whitney Ence, PhD.

As described above, all children and young adults, neurotypical or not, require support from caregivers during times of stress, coping with the unknown, and changes in routine. Not an easy formula for those of us who already struggle with rigidity! Individuals with autism and other neurodevelopmental challenges may need additional support to understand the news and adapt the changes. There may be additional challenges related to comprehension, communication, insistence on sameness, and likelihood of anxiety and depression.

It is important to follow this site’s general recommendations for families, about how to create safety and routine. In addition, you can also help offer opportunities for expression, prioritize coping and calming, maintain routines when possible, and see this as an opportunity to build new routines, foster connections. If therapies are hard to get access to, parents may want to check out the OT Toolbox, which has free tools, activities, and resources for occupational, speech, and physical therapy at home.

Here are resources for more specific ways to do this:

• Resources for families of children with ASD
• A comprehensive guide for supporting individuals with ASD, including hand washing and coping through uncertain times by our colleagues at the University of North Carolina
• Visual tools to help with hand washing

When family members have heated conflicts and emotion-regulation issues, it is critical to use skills to quickly de-escalate. Highly stressful situations require adaptability and crisis survival skills. Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) offers such skills for adults and children. It is particularly for borderline personality features, but it offers helpful skills for everyone.

Stressful situations make us both scared and angry, with thoughts such as “It shouldn’t be this way.” These intense emotions can block our ability to accept our current reality and adapt. Radical acceptance may help us. To accept the situation doesn’t mean we approve of it, we don’t. It may help to remind us we cannot change certain situations right now. Allow feelings of sadness and grief, and breathe into them. Life is still worth living even when we are in pain.

Surf the wave! 

To help us tolerate intense emotions, there are many ways to "surf the wave" of emotion until it passes. Strong emotions and urges have a beginning, middle and end. They don’t last long, and we can do things to help them end even sooner. Think of a surfer on a wave, what tips will you use to surf the wave and get to the calm sooner?

The full DBT program includes core life skills for good emotional intelligence, distress tolerance, communication, and emotion regulation. We focus on 3 crisis skills, summarized by the images below, that can help us tolerate the stress and emotional discomfort of the current situation. An accompanying video leads us through each one.

ACCEPTS

This set of tips lets us distract ourselves from the spiral of negative emotions so we can return to our wise mind. The video describes these steps. The distraction from intensity can be as simple as comparing yourself to those less fortunate, watching a funny video, petting your cat, or changing your body state which changes your mind (like chewing in ice, taking a hot or cold shower, doing push-ups).

IMPROVE the moment

Try one of these skills to get a break from intense negative emotion. Imagine relaxing scenes --visualization is powerful. Finding meaning in the situation that is stressing you out can help. Use any prayer you find comforting. Focus all your attention on one small thing in the moment. Focusing on the body, on breathing or other sensations (tasting, smelling, listening), creates some space for strong emotion to dissipate. Progressive muscle relaxation or a body scan can help. Take a mini-vacation in the moment--change up your surroundings by going outside or to a different room. Say encouraging things to yourself like “I’m doing the best I can. This won’t last forever.” 

PLEASE

Keeping mind-body balance by healthy lifestyle, is very helpful in hard times, as we reviewed in the General Coping section above.

PLEASE:

Treat PhysicaL illness
Balance Eating
Avoid Mood-Altering Drugs
Balance Sleep
Get Exercise